Needlefree valve connectors are known in the art of reducing the accidental needle stick exposure to medical personnel, reducing the risk of contamination and patient infection due to repeat needle sticks to the ports, and providing easy connection and disconnection without compromising sterility.
EP 2 269 687 A2 discloses a connector for controlling the flow of fluid the construction of which is complex and comprises a number of limitations.
Some of the known needlefree medical connectors are repeatedly connectable with a range of other medical implements and are self-sealing when disconnected from other medical implements. Examples of such needlefree medical connectors are disclosed in WO 2010/111546 A2, WO 2006/062912 A1, and WO 2012/151222 A1 which is “configured to operate similar to the valve stem shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,651,956” incorporated therein. The structures of these connectors are complex, thus leading to high manufacturing costs.
Different types of connectors are used throughout various kinds of medical fields such as intravenous administration, enteral or parenteral administration, for the taking of blood samples, for artificial ventilation or respiration and the like. These different types of connections must not be mixed up because lethal misconnections must be avoided. Therefore, there are standardized configurations which are intended to regulate the usage of different connectors with different sizes such that misconnections cannot occur.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to remedy or reduce at least one of the shortcomings of the prior art and to provide a needlefree valve device or connector having a relatively simple structure, which offers a wide variety of connection possibilities and is also self-sealing when disconnected from other ports.